Ridgeline head coach Ainsli Jenks celebrates while cutting down the net after winning the Utah 4A girls basketball championship on Saturday in Logan.
Eli Lucero, Herald Journal
Box score
Ridgeline’s girls basketball team has been heralded all season as simply too good for the rest of 4A, and on Saturday the foregone conclusion became official.
Top seed Ridgeline put the punctuation mark on a perfect 25-0 season at the Smith Spectrum at Utah State, absolutely dominating No. 2 seed Sky View 67-43 to claim its first state title in school history.
As in just about every other game this season, the Riverhawks buried their opponent early with suffocating defense that led to a 21-point halftime lead. From there, they played the second half in cruise control, something they’ve become experts at this season.
Coach Ainsli Jenks subbed her starters out with about three minutes remaining, and junior Elise Livingston said soaking up those final minutes from the bench was a unique experience she’s grateful for.
“It was a lot of fun because we got to celebrate our teammates who work really hard in practice so we can get better. It means a lot to us,” said Livingston, who scored 12 points in another great state tournament performance.
Ridgeline players celebrate after winning the Utah 4A girls basketball championship on Saturday in Logan.
Eli Lucero, Herald Journal
Ridgeline’s Emilee Skinner cuts down the net after winning the Utah 4A girls basketball championship on Saturday in Logan.
Eli Lucero, Herald Journal
Ridgeline’s Macie Brown cuts down the net after winning the Utah 4A girls basketball championship on Saturday in Logan.
Eli Lucero, Herald Journal
Ridgeline’s Emilee Skinner hold the championship trophy after winning the Utah 4A girls basketball tournament on Saturday in Logan.
Eli Lucero, Herald Journal
Ridgeline’s Macie Brown (22) shoots the ball as Sky View’s Karlee Allen (2) and Claire Fischer defend during the championship game of the Utah 4A girls basketball tournament on Saturday in Logan.
Eli Lucero, Herald Journal
Ridgeline’s Elise Livingston, left, dives for a loose ball as Sky View’s Addey Merrill (14) defends during the championship game of the Utah 4A girls basketball tournament on Saturday in Logan.
Eli Lucero, Herald Journal
Ridgeline’s Emilee Skinner (5) shoots the ball as Sky View’s Kourtney Payne (24) and Hannah Radford (5) defend during the championship game of the Utah 4A girls basketball tournament on Saturday in Logan.
Eli Lucero, Herald Journal
Ridgeline’s Hallee Smith steals the ball from Sky View’s Makena Smart (20) during the championship game of the Utah 4A girls basketball tournament on Saturday in Logan.
Eli Lucero, Herald Journal
Sky View’s Hannah Radford fouls Ridgeline’s Elise Livingston (23) during the championship game of the Utah 4A girls basketball tournament on Saturday in Logan.
Eli Lucero, Herald Journal
Ridgeline’s Emilee Skinner shoots the ball as Sky View’s Hannah Radford defends during the championship game of the Utah 4A girls basketball tournament on Saturday in Logan.
Eli Lucero, Herald Journal
Ridgeline head coach Ainsli Jenks celebrates while cutting down the net after winning the Utah 4A girls basketball championship on Saturday in Logan.
Eli Lucero, Herald Journal
Ridgeline has played all season with a target on its back with five returning starters from last year’s state runner-up team, but Jenks said those expectations never became an issue.
“I think I’ve said this about 390,000 times, we have a target on our back, but if we’re running at them they don’t see our target, and that was really the focus. We can’t worry about being the target,” said Jenks about her frequent message to her team.
Practices all season were extremely competitive at Ridgeline, often featuring the starters against the reserves, and that intensity kept complacency from creeping in.
“We were probably the most competitive people you’ll find. Practices are always really competitive. No matter what kind of drill, we always want to win it no matter what team you’re on,” said Livingston.
Deseret News tournament MVP Emilee Skinner had another massive game for the Riverhawks with 28 points, six steals and four assists. She went over 1,000 career points in the win with two more years to shoot for the 2,000-point plateau.
It took Ridgeline a few minutes to get going in the first quarter of Saturday’s title game, but once it did, yikes.
Ridgeline used a 9-0 first-quarter run to open things up, and during a stretch of the second quarter, it scored on seven straight possessions while building a 38-17 halftime lead.
Sky View rallied from a double-digit deficit in the semifinals to beat Snow Canyon, but Ridgeline is an entirely different beast, and the lead just kept swelling in the second half.
Hannah Radford, the semifinal hero for the Bobcats, led her team in the loss with 17 points, but struggled shooting against Ridgeline’s stout defense. She went just 4 of 17 from the field.
Ridgeline’s defense forced Sky View into 23 turnovers, with Skinner accounting for six of her team’s 12 steals.
Jenks never lets off the gas in practice with her talented team, and that translates to a relentless effort in the games.
In many ways, that intensity started the day after last year’s loss to Desert Hills in the final.
“It was a battle, played a great game down South, and the girls from that minute knew they wanted to come take care of business this year and they just went after it, and put in lots of hours,” said Jenks, who donned shinny bright green pants for the special occasion of Saturday’s championship.
“It’s something fun and different, and I kind of like to embarrass the girls a little bit maybe. … I kind of take pride in my outfits,” she said.
She said the pants were extremely hot and she’ll never wear them again, but they made for a helluva photo op as she hung from the rim after cutting down the net.
Maybe she’ll indeed retire them to the local Deseret Industries, or maybe they’ll be the lucky pants she breaks out next year because Ridgeline returns all five starters again next year, which could be the start of a Cache Valley dynasty.
“Better watch out next year, too,” said Skinner smiling with a grin about the seemingly unlimited ceiling of this group.
Deseret News 4A All-Tournament Team
MVP — Emilee Skinner, Ridgeline
Elise Livingston, Ridgeline
Macie Brown, Ridgeline
Hannah Radford, Sky View
Hallee Smith, Ridgeline
Olivia Hamlin, Snow Canyon
